Meghan makes rare UK visit: Duchess reveals she stopped off at Heathrow airport on way back to LA from Geneva.

 

Meghan makes rare UK visit: Duchess reveals she stopped off at Heathrow airport on way back to LA from Geneva.

Meghan Markle has revealed she made a rare visit to the UK on Monday during her return journey from Geneva to LA.

The Duchess of Sussex, 44, last officially visited Britain in 2022, when the late Queen Elizabeth II died. She also travelled via Heathrow in July 2024 when visiting Nigeria, according to reports at the time, and spent several hours at the prestigious Windsor Suite.

Meghan was in Switzerland on Sunday to give a speech on children's online safety at the World Health Organisation's 79th World Health Assembly.

Her visit came two days before her eighth wedding anniversary with Prince Harry, which she heavily celebrated on Instagram yesterday with a host of unseen photographs from her Windsor nuptials.

Alongside a Union Jack emoji, she also shared an image of a handwritten card she'd received from BA staff, writing: 'Thanks to this amazing flight crew for all the love yesterday! Appreciate all your memories and kind words.'

The card read: 'Dearest Harry and Meghan, Wishing you a wonderful wedding anniversary, With love, The whole British Airways family.'

Meghan's BA269 flight from London departed 26 minutes later than expected at 3.31pm and arrived in LA at 7.25pm.

It is not clear how long her stopover at Heathrow was after flying in from Geneva on Monday morning.

There are no direct flights from Geneva to LA, but she could also have chosen to travel via Frankfurt, Paris or Barcelona.

Prince Harry has previously said that it is unsafe to bring his family to the UK unless he is given full-time armed police protection.

Funded by the public purse for all senior royals, this was taken away from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when they decided to step down from their royal duties. 

As a result, their children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, four, have not seen their grandfather, the King, since February 2022 when they visited Britain as part of the late Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Last year, Harry lost a legal bid to have his protection reconsidered, blaming the Royal Household in thinly veiled comments about him being the victim of 'a good old-fashioned establishment stitch up'.

Since Harry and Meghan's departure from the UK in 2020, when the Metropolitan Police stopped providing security for the couple, they have been responsible for their own security, which would include round-the-clock protection at their estate in Montecito, California, and security for overseas visits. 

Meanwhile, a source close to the duchess told PEOPLE magazine: 'Meghan’s flight crew was so lovely on her way back from Geneva. 

'They all came to say happy anniversary and shared their memories of where they were on the day. They wrote Harry and Meghan a card and gave them a bottle of champagne and British candies for Harry and the kids.

'It was very special and so appreciated by Meghan, who wanted to publicly thank them. She was truly so touched.'

Meghan marked her eighth wedding anniversary by sharing a collection of previously unseen photographs from her big day on Instagram. 

'Eight years ago today…', she captioned the two posts, with one showing a glimpse of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's first dance at their evening reception at Frogmore House, where they shared a passionate kiss in some of the pictures.

The second post revealed snaps from Meghan and Harry's nuptials at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, which were watched by an estimated 1.9billion people and attended by A-listers such as Oprah Winfrey, Sir David Beckham and George Clooney.

However, it was Sir Elton John, who performed at their special day, and Isabel May, British PR executive and a close, long-time confidante of Meghan's, who featured in the photographs.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the rift between the Sussexes and the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Royal Family – apart from a glimpse at the back of King Charles after he had walked his daughter-in-law down the aisle – were nowhere to be seen in the wedding photos.

Tags: Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince Louis, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Meghan, Lilibet

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